Overheard in the courtroom: Odd comforts

Now, I'll preface this post by saying I do my best not to completely eavesdrop on private conversations between counsel and defendants in the courtroom. Even if I do hear something, I can't actually do anything with it most of the time, so I ignore it. But this was an exception.

Last week I was at the sentencing hearing for Glenn Jason Wileman, a Fayetteville man who had pleaded guilty to child pornography charges.

If you don't know how sentencing hearings are run, here's a quick rundown:

Each Wednesday, there is a list for three or four judges, of sentences they need to handle in the morning. While awaiting sentencing, defendants convicted of a wide variety of charges will sit in the same room with family and attorneys as the judge goes down the list.

On this particular Wednesday, the federal level case against Wileman joined a couple D.U.I.s, a probation violation, and more. From the sentences I saw, he had the most severe charges.

In front of me was a couple, I couldn't tell who they were and I still don't know their identities to this day. But they sat, uncomfortably listening to Wileman's charges, the arguments for his sentence, and the sexually violent predator classification that was announced during his hearing.

As the judge paused to look over the documents related to the case, an attorney came over to the pair.

He looked at them and said very quietly something along the lines of, whatever you did, just know that you are not that guy.

It was clear he was talking about Wileman, and reminding them that despite his client and Wileman sitting in the same chair to be sentenced under the same judge, Wile manwas a different level of criminal. A type that left even the other defendants in the room feeling uneasy.